Meet: Emiko
Occupation: Automaton and geisha of sorts
Location: Thailand
Genre: Steampunk, Scifi
The Windup Girl
by Paolo Bacigalupi
Published: April 2010
Romance steam gauge: none
Description from the amazon:
Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko.
Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok.Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.
What Happens when calories become currency?
What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism's genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution?
In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of The Calorie Man; (Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and Yellow Card Man (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these poignant questions.
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I have read great things about this one. Surely it sounds amazing!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really eerie but really intriguing. I think what I love most about scifi is when it rings really true to our present or near future. It scares me when it turns out to be oddly prophetic, but I love it.
ReplyDeleteIt does sounds great and look at that cover, I like that a lot!
ReplyDeleteThat's REALLY interesting - 'when calories become currency' ... not so sure that there could not be, as Aly pointed out, some futuristic truth to this :0
ReplyDeleteThis book is new to me, I'm jotting it down to see if my library has it (for when we are finished with all this stupid home improvement crap lol). Then I intend to lock my door and curl up with PINTS of Ben & Jerry's and a sack of yummy, well-deserved reading material!
Cheerio ~
Ooh, I have been wanting this book for the longest time! I just bought another of his, Shipbreaker, and almost bought this, too, but I couldn't justify the expense to myself. But wantwantwant!
ReplyDeleteThis one looks absolutely amazing!!!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds awesome!
ReplyDeleteI really want to read this book! It sounds amazing!
ReplyDeleteCalories as currency? What a strange but amazing idea!
ReplyDelete